ROCHESTER — Win and you’re in. It was a simple goal for wrestlers around the state as they competed at the regional level Saturday. A win in the first round guaranteed a semi-state berth and eight local grapplers answered the call. Seven competitors advanced from the Rochester Regional with Wawasee leading the way having three qualifiers. At the Carroll Regional it was Whitko’s lone representative, Dillon Alma, that kept his season alive.

Triton, Warsaw and Wawasee all feed into the East Chicago Semi-state while Whitko heads to New Haven.

TRITON

The Trojans led local teams by qualifying seven individuals for the regional field. Of those seven two would emerge as semi-state qualifiers. Gage Waddle and Malachi Greene both punched their tickets and would place third in their respective brackets.

“Everything kind of went the way we predicted it to today,” said Triton head coach Ron Brown. “We took a look at things about five weeks ago, saw where people were lining up, put ourselves into these positions and I think we’ve hit our goals so far.”

Greene started his day with a pin (5:07) of Solomon Siafa of South Bend Washington before falling in the semi-finals to Penn’s Drew Hildebrandt. Greene finished his day with a 5-0 decision over Plymouth’s Zane DeVault to clinch third at 120.

At 160 Waddle used an 11-2 major decision to get by Riley’s RZ Teague. Waddle fell to South Bend Adams’ Tavonte Malone 7-3 in the semis. In the consolation bracket Waddle emerged victorious over Mishawaka’s Luke Sinkovics with a 4-3 decision.

“I was pleased with what I saw today,” Brown said. “Now we move on to semi-state and we’ll take care of business there.”

Bryce Swihart, Adonic Salinas, Nick Harker, James Snyder and John Salinas were all eliminated in the first round.

WARSAW

The Tigers had five athletes to focus on Saturday and two were able to extend their seasons after solid runs in the tough regional field.

Kyle Hatch highlighted Warsaw’s by running his record to 39-0 and earning the regional title at 138 pounds.

Hatch won by fall in each of his first two matches over Aaron Chan (2:49) and Deven Beaver (2:41). In the championship Hatch faced Penn’s Trace Manspeaker and used a 12-4 major decision to earn the class crown.

Andrew Brock was able to punch a ticket to semi-state and claim a third place finish as well at 220. Brock used a 6-0 decision to advance in the first match of the day over Clay’s Jared Horban. The Warsaw senior was pinned by undefeated Kobe Woods in the semis before bouncing back for a 9-6 win over Mishawaka’s Jake Hess.

“We initially were hoping to get three of our guys through, but we’re happy with what the guys accomplished here today,” Warsaw head coach Justin Smith stated. “We thought Gustavo Cartejena would be able to wrestle better than he did but he was nervous as a freshman in this environment. He just didn’t wrestle the way we knew he could wrestle. Luis (Juarez) had a tough draw, we were doubtful, but he battled. He’s a senior, a great kid and he’ll be back to help our other guys practice next week. Alec (Haines) has been battling an injury all season and he got his arm torqued and put on his back in that match and he was just done at that point.

“It’s good to have Kyle and Drew get through. We expected to see Kyle move on and we expected to see Drew move on as well. He was a semi-state qualifier last year so we knew what he could do.”

WAWASEE

It was a beneficial day for the Warriors as three of six individuals advanced to the East Chicago Semi-state and would finish seventh in the team standings of the 17-team field.

Braxton Alexander highlighted the day for Wawasee as he finished as the runner-up. The freshman moved to 29-5 in his rookie campaign for the Warriors. He won by fall in the first round over Darnell Anderson of South Bend Riley at 3:07. Alexander claimed another win by fall in the semis over Joey Zahl of South Bend Adams (3:51). In the 113-pound final Alexander dropped a 12-0 major decision to Penn’s Austin Slates.

“It just speaks to who he is,” Wawasee head coach Frank Bumgardner said of Alexander’s run. “He’s wrestled for a long time and he’s just a natural wrestler. Getting to semi-state is just another good step for him. He’s got a good thing going, he’s just got to continue to put a lot of work into it.”

Jeremiah Dilley continued his stellar postseason run at 195 with a fourth place finish. Dilley punched his ticket to East Chicago with a 5-3 decision over Nick Pingel of Mishawaka Marian. The junior dropped his semi-final match to Penn’s Cedrick Vakalahi 6-2 and would fall in the consolation round 7-5 to Brock Stanton of Mishawaka.

Tristin Ponsler entered with great expectations at 132 for the Warriors and will have plenty of reason to prove himself at semi-state after stumbling in the semi-finals.

Ponslers whooped up 15-5 on Marian’s Nate Szajko but never found his footing in the semis against Mishawaka’s Preston Risner. Ponsler trailed 7-3 with under 10 seconds to go in the match before making things interesting.

Ponsler used the combo of a takedown and near fall to tie things up 7-7. In the overtime period Ponsler was called for fleeing the mat despite what looked like a clear intent to turn back in towards Risner. The call gave Risner a point and ended the contest. Risner advnaced to defeat Aaron Orr 9-2 in the title match, the same wrestler Ponsler defeated in the sectional title a week earlier.

“I’m not a fan of the call,” Bumgardner stated. “I like the official, personally, I get a long with him but I don’t like that call, especially in overtime. It didn’t look great, but I felt he was turning in.”

But, the biggest questions was whether Ponsler should have ever been in the position to have an official, or anybody else, decide his fate.

“No, absolutely not,” said the coach. “He didn’t have a great start to the match and dug himself a hole. He dug himself out with some last-second heroics. You can’t let somebody else decide that for you. You have to take control of the situation early.”

Ricardo Romo, Zac McKee and Alejandro Castro all lost in the first round of their respective matches.

WHITKO

Dillon Alma was the lone Wildcat in action today but the junior made sure his season would live on at least another week.

Alma advanced over Leo’s Taylor Garton by fall (5:31) in the opening match at 170. The junior then fell 14-10 to Tate Burns in the semi-final and would drop a 9-5 decision to Caleb Partin of Churubusco in the consolation match.

Alma is now 27-15 on the season.

 

*Operator error prevented the photos taken at today’s regional from being used.